Pics: Accidents in India

This is a discussion on Pics: Accidents in India within Road Safety, part of the Team-BHP category; Originally Posted by sjcherian
... ... ... underage+unlicensed driving will not be tolerated from my father and knowing that he ...

... ... ... underage+unlicensed driving will not be tolerated from my father and knowing that he will support me in getting my license and teaching me to drive after I turn 18 kept me going till the time I finally got my license a few months past the date.

Aye, but there ought to be one more vitally important corollary to this - there should be a very stringent driver training and testing procedure in place; which, of course, is the responsibility of the government.

Not sure if blaming the parents is really correct.
So, I suggest we back off automatically blaming parents without knowing details. PS: Please do not flame me; I will not respond. Happy to engage in constructive discussion though.

I don't believe in flaming, and I understand that raking up a tempestuous debate here is easy.. I never want any of it.

However, its simple.. maybe you feel differently since you indulged in a flagrant violation and ended up being all the wiser for the future. THAT however, doesn't change the fact that without experience, age, and maturity, driving a vehicle is immoral, illegal and downright wrong.

Just separate yourself from what I'm going to say now - there are many who drive prematurely and cause untold problems and yet it doesn't seem to stop at all. It IS WRONG, period. The same way parents stop children from eating dirt when playing in it, or from touching toxic stuff lying in bathrooms and kitchens, heck even lecturing them for days on end to eat healthy and not have burgers and pizzas in college, they can also stop them from taking the car out.. of course that requires a deep distrust in their own kids which can be truly their greatest and most useful weapon in creating a better tomorrow, but somehow I guess the ego (in this case, the assumption of their child not capable of doing wrong) overwrites the instincts against common human behaviour.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tazmaan

Minors are Parents responsibility and there are no two ways about it every other argument is just an excuse.

Yep, that's how the whole concept of family is seen as, from the eyes of the law. Parenting might have been simpler 50 years ago as society in general was reserved and there being no avenue for any entertainment or misuse of entertainment thereof. Today is the hardest time to be a responsible parent and it's gonna get worse, way worse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjcherian

It is going to be tough to protect kids and keep them out of all sorts of trouble as they grow up. The influence of their friends/classmates/neighbors especially will be critical in how they behave.

Peer pressure is the single destructive force from hell, changes almost every kid. Luckily I never fell for it and if people are wise, they will never fall for it. At a certain age it might seem like the only "awesome-cool-hot-whatever" activities are to push the limits on everything.. no sleep, break rules, rebel, get sloshed, mug 2.5 hours before exam etc.. I've seen this happen to toppers in school and all of a sudden they all fell like 9 pins - reason peer pressure.

I should've been happy since their change in nature resulted in me moving up the class ranks, but I only felt sorry for them because I knew how they used to be. One bad fruit can destroy the whole cart.

Just to add some more fuel to the fire, or a bit of different thinking, a minor is not allowed to drive, but is he not allowed to learn driving too?

Also, the parents are primarily to blame in that they must educate the kids that motor vehicles are not meant for joyrides, and make sure that the car keys are out of reach of children, just like guns and knives.

a minor is not allowed to drive, but is he not allowed to learn driving too?

As per the law, one must apply for and get a Learner's License to learn driving. Eligible age to get a Learner's License is same as for a normal Driver's License. Therefore, unless he/she is learning to drive on a private property, a minor cannot learn to drive on public roads.

It is going to be tough to protect kids and keep them out of all sorts of trouble as they grow up. The influence of their friends/classmates/neighbors especially will be critical in how they behave.

However it is definitely the responsibility of the parents to talk to the kids and explain why kids shouldn't drive before the legal age / without proper training from a driving school / without getting a license. Same goes for drugs/drink/sex/other thrill etc. etc. Giving them all the comforts of life and money to spend is not the end of their responsibilities.

I have had this conversation with my son already a couple of times and hope to keep having such conversations on not just this but other topics as well. I hope it will sink in and he will remember these conversations and make the right decisions both for him and for his friends.

From personal experience getting to know way ahead of time that underage+unlicensed driving will not be tolerated from my father and knowing that he will support me in getting my license and teaching me to drive after I turn 18 kept me going till the time I finally got my license a few months past the date.

The current generation kids are far more matured when compared to what we were. They also need to be dealt with in a different manner. You cannot deal with the current generation either too strict or too lenient. If you are strict with the kids, they fill find company in the form of friends who can easily misguide them. If you are too lenient, they will take you for granted. We need to behave like a friend / father to them so that we can make them understand things.
Back in my times, buying a car was a status symbol but today buying a car is almost become mandatory. You also have so many models to choose from. Kids expectations also increase if one of them happen to be in possession of a luxury car. I own a Santro Xing that is 8 years old. Sometimes while driving on the city roads, my son makes a comment that my car looks so small and does not have so many features that other cars have and that other cars go faster compared to my car
I try to convince him by saying that what features we have today will not be there tomorrow. That being the case it is not possible for a person to keep changing his /her car frequently. I said that may be once the car completes 10 years, we can go for a new car. For a small family comprising of 4 members, small car is more than enough as parking is an issue with bigger cars.
I also tell him that whatever car you have, one must learn to drive properly and not indulge in rash driving. One should not drink and drive.
No matter whatever advice we give, the expectations of the kids will always be on the higher side courtesy their friends circle. That is unavoidable.
What I feel is that this process of advising the kids must be a continuous affair. Yes sometimes kids can hide facts from the parents and go out with their friends to enjoy the drive.
All that I pray to god is please do not give bad news to the parents.

Saw this on the ORR today. Not sure how this happened.
This is the XV variant of the Terrano. The cabin was intact but there was a crack/ impression on the windshield which gave me the impression that the passenger was probably not wearing a seat belt and his head hit it.
Not sure if this variant has airbags, but they weren't deployed.

Got this accident scene video from a friend, which occurred some time ago on the electronics city elevated highway heading to silk board.

As per another witness, two Infy buses too were involved in this and had happened just few meters after crossing the toll both, which means the speed could be very less and make us wonder how the car is in this state.

The current generation kids are far more matured when compared to what we were. They also need to be dealt with in a different manner. You cannot deal with the current generation either too strict or too lenient. If you are strict with the kids, they fill find company in the form of friends who can easily misguide them. If you are too lenient, they will take you for granted. We need to behave like a friend / father to them so that we can make them understand things.

Still it is going to be tough. Let me share some insider info

I just got into college and everyday I'm seeing and hearing the acts(which they find thrilling) of my peers. "I didnt have a tough time keeping up with that merc on the highway", "Yesterday I touched xxx kmph on my bike". "I'll get my RC200 next month, cant wait to rip" etc.

From my experience with these guys for nearly a semester, I can say, hiding the keys wont help. Neither does advice. They find more joy in driving their buddies' rides And advising them... blame the age or hormones, talking sense into them is like adding Ujala to the Atlantic to make it blue.

From my analysis, lack of experience and knowledge and inability to judge is the key problems here. These adrenaline junkies act like unattended PCs when they are behind the wheel, their brains go into power save mode and they show some really inspiring live screen-savers of zipping through traffic( and oblivious to the words of praise from that fellow road user from whom they had just taken the living ghost out.)

So far, I had been successful twice in making them a bit more responsible using a rather blunt method :- sharing with them some of the really nasty crashes seen on this thread and the even nastier ones found online. Knowing the consequences tends to dissuade them. For the biker, I just scared him with a stone. I just asked them what section tyres he used and told him compare it with the size of the bike and the stone lying on his way and whether he hoped to come back in one piece at xxxkmph leave aside staying in control. This is by far more effective than hiding the keys and I was happy at least a couple of safer drivers resulted from this. Making kids aware of the consequences and the harsh reality will help than just telling them not to drive. You must make them decide it for themselves not to drive rash.

--gk--
PS: Dont ask me why I dont drive like them, maybe because I started to follow TBHP from the time I was in 8th grade.

If you are strict with the kids, they fill find company in the form of friends who can easily misguide them. If you are too lenient, they will take you for granted. We need to behave like a friend / father to them so that we can make them understand things.

No matter what, kids will do it if they feel it is right irrespective of their age. It is all about how we raise the kids right from the beginning and how close we are to them.
Personally, I am trying to get this statement into my 5yr old daughter's mind, "I can tell this to daddy. He will understand." Hope most fathers here might agree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by --gKrish--

So far, I had been successful twice in making them a bit more responsible

I remember reading somewhere here or on the web where a responsible father neither denied buying his son a new bike nor failed to inculcate the sense of safe driving. He bought the bike first and asked his son to visit the government hospital everyday and report back with the number of cases coming in for accidents and describe it. Once the father was satisfied the keys were given later. A well executed practical session to make his kid a responsible biker on road .